Say no to public money for "bloody oil" from tar sands

The Royal Bank of Scotland is using bailout money to finance the most damaging projects and companies on earth. Join us next week for a series of events highlighting the impacts of Canada's tar sands projects.

Bloody Oil logo

Tar sands have been dubbed ‘bloody oil’ by Canada’s indigenous communities.

Last week the Government pumped another £39 billion of public money into bailed-out banks, despite Royal Bank of Scotland’s continued investment in dirty fossil fuels. RBS, which is now 84% publicly-owned, is a major funder of tar sands extraction in Alberta, Canada.

The extraction of low-grade oil from Canada’s tar sands has been described as the “most destructive project on earth” and ‘Bloody Oil’.  It is destroying the homelands of First Nation communities, polluting their drinking water, and is already the single largest industrial carbon emitter in the world. Stopping financing from banks like RBS is absolutely crucial to stopping the tar sands project.

We’ve teamed up with members of the First Nations of Canada and other UK-based NGOs to arrange a series of speaker events, film screenings, actions and lobbying events. Read on to learn more and get involved in stopping the tar sands.

Eriel Tchekwie Deranger 3

Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, a Dene woman from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation of Northern Alberta, will open Shared Planet 2009

  • Tuesday 17th November, Houses of Parliament, Committee Rm 16, 10am - 12pm Representatives of some of the worst-affected indigenous First Nations communities are coming to Parliament to alert policy-makers to the local and global devastation being caused by the tar sands. They will emphasise the UK’s particular responsibility to act, as several of the leading companies and investors operating in the tar sands are British. Come along and invite your MP to attend using the template email below

  • Tuesday 17th November, RBS Headquarters, Bishopsgate, 2.30pm Come and clean up the Royal Bank of Scotland London HQ with the First Nation representatives - meeting outside Liverpool Lime Street tube station at 2pm. Please bring feather dusters, marigolds and banners. More details from Adam and join the Facebook event

  • First Nations activists will be the opening speakers at this year’s Shared Planet and will be screening the tarsands documentary H2Oil.

Template email

Please write to your MP, inviting them to a meeting with First Nation Canadians who are directly affected by RBS’ involvement in tarsands.

Find your MP and simply copy and paste the suggested text below.

Dear ________ MP

At 10:30 am on Tuesday 17th November, a group of First Nation Canadians are coming to Westminster. They have crossed the Atlantic to ask you to stop The Royal Bank of Scotland funding the tar sands projects destroying their communities and driving climate change.

RBS, which is now 84% publicly-owned, is a major funder of tar sands extraction in Alberta. Tar sands extraction has been described as the “dirtiest project on earth”. It is destroying the homelands of a number of Canadian First Nations, polluting their drinking water, and is the single largest fossil fuel emitter in the world.

I am writing to you to ask you to go to the meeting with the First Nation Canadians, hear what they have to say, and then write to the Chancellor demanding that he intervene, and stop RBS from using public money to fund tar sands.

The event takes place on Tuesday 17 November in Committee Room 16 from 10am – 12pm

Please let me know if you will be attending this event as I would like the opportunity to speak to you afterwards.

Yours sincerely,

[Your Name]

For more information about tar sands: http://peopleandplanet.org/tarsands

For more information about UK Tarsands Network Tour: http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/tour/